December camp possibility - who's in?!

First, i thought i'd put this here for those who had already left camp by the time this conversation came up, and of course for those of you who weren't there this time. Secondly, i didn't get a chance today to access my full gmail account and am now sitting outside Sam's violin teacher's house while he has a lesson, again with only the iPad and thus not my full gmail ... but will send an email to the full list when i get a chance. In the meantime ...

 Who is free and able to come away for craft camp on: Friday 7 to Sunday 9 December?

 There's a new crafty retreat venue opened in Woodend (an hour outside Melbourne, for the interstate campers, and with a train station for easy access) called The Retreat. You can have a look here. It's pretty well booked up but there is that one opening in December. Looks pretty good and we thought we ought to check it out, purely for research porpoises you understand. Jenny is pooling her group with ours to see if we can get enough people for a booking between us (understanding that December might be tricky for some), so let me know ASAP (suseinthesoup@gmail.com) if you think you could come.

Bonus, it's available from 9am on the Friday to 4pm on the Sunday.

 In other news i promised i'd put this here for Gill.

  Verona, for the spectacular Roman ruins including the amphitheatre, and various buildings about town that have Roman foundations in their basements and cellars, Juliet's balcony (yes i know it's fake but hey Romeo and Juliet weren't exactly real themselves, being characters in a play and so on) and a youth hostel with frescoes, and a pretty lovely cathedral from memory. The amphitheatre is still used today for open air opera and theatre productions.

Siena because it's just stunning and the entire city centre is a UNESCO world heritage site, and of course the incredibly beautiful main square which isn't square but shell shaped and on a slant and a world famous insane bareback horserace (the Palio)is held annually in it. Plus it's a university town so is lively and bustling. Plus the Duomo (cathedral) is better than the more famous Florentine one in my humble opinion. Sounds like Kate can fill you in more with Siena (and Florence).

Cortona because it's like something out of this world. Tiny hilltop medieval fortressed village. I was there in 1986 and it was gorgeous. Later on my brother lived there for 6 months, with a dance company, bizarrely. Later again it was made famous by a wealthy American woman who renovated a crumbling farmhouse and cooked a lot and turned it all into a book and film. Bleh. You still should go, though.